300 i6 sputtering and barely idling

[Josh B]

Are you sure it aint the timing?

 

[That_4.0_ranger]

It could possibly be that but I have no idea how to adjust timing

 

[Josh B]

My 73 had a gear to gear timing, only way was to install new gears, it wasn't hard to do at all, The 300 had metal gears and the 240 had fiber
I was a hundred miles away and running late for crew change in Sabine Pass and was pushing it, dang thing stripped and I wound up getting it towed and late to work.
When we got off after the week was up I rode with a motor man who lived near there and we changed it out in a couple hours

 

[bobbywalter]

Yeah that’s what I thought because every other rig I’ve had charged anywhere between 13.6 and 13.7 my old red ranger even charged at 14.1 (yes I know that probably to much but it never caused a problem so I didn’t touch it lol)

14.1 is better on an efi vehicle..


stole this from rock auto....

if this is what you have...check and clean all connections.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

My 73 had a gear to gear timing, only way was to install new gears, it wasn't hard to do at all, The 300 had metal gears and the 240 had fiber
I was a hundred miles away and running late for crew change in Sabine Pass and was pushing it, dang thing stripped and I wound up getting it towed and late to work.
When we got off after the week was up I rode with a motor man who lived near there and we changed it out in a couple hours

All 300's had timing gears but i think they were reffering to ignition timing.

Im still betting an electrical issue.

OP....when you tested the voltage did you check it with all electrical stuff on? (wipers, blower. Lights, etc)

Also have you scanned for codes?

 

[bobbywalter]

All 300's had timing gears but i think they were reffering to ignition timing.

Im still betting an electrical issue.

OP....when you tested the voltage did you check it with all electrical stuff on? (wipers, blower. Lights, etc)

Also have you scanned for codes?

he did load it. i assume there is resistance. there is a repair or a power ground wire off somewhere in the common loop. or just an internally corroded power side or fuse link.....hell could be all of that....

otherwise... the regulator or alternator is just tired. its not sucking the battery down key off....that is usually a sign of regulator issues....bad diode ect...

 

[Curious Hound]

Could have 1 phase of the alternator failed.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

he did load it. i assume there is resistance. there is a repair or a power ground wire off somewhere in the common loop. or just an internally corroded power side or fuse link.....hell could be all of that....

otherwise... the regulator or alternator is just tired. its not sucking the battery down key off....that is usually a sign of regulator issues....bad diode ect...

Guess i missed that part

 

[That_4.0_ranger]

It has a brand new alternator on in it and I tested it with a load on the old one and new one and got the same results

 

[Josh B]

I only had two similar problems with mine, one was the carburater was about to fall apart, which I fixed by putting a screwdriver to work.
The other was a timing gear issue, not sure exactly what. I had been driving through the night to get to the landing for my job offshore and it just quit on the interstate, so I got it towed to a yard and came back 7 days later and we towed it to a friends place and gave it new timing gears

 

[Josh B]

I did have another unusual problem once also/ Just going down the highway the engine dies, made no sense to me.
After a number of checks none were doing any good, I hit the key with the distributor off and the distributor wasn't turning, was a key-way or pin through the distributor shaft had broken

 

[rusty ol ranger]

It has a brand new alternator on in it and I tested it with a load on the old one and new one and got the same results

I think you got a bad ground somewhere

 

[That_4.0_ranger]

Well I figured out the a few problems and fixed/temporarily fixed them the first one was the ground cable came loose from where i mounted it and it fell on the exhaust and melted the insulation into the wire causing it to not have enough flow and I also replaced the screwy 3 wire plug on the alternator (in the first picture) and that solved my problem of it running worse the more electrical I turned on but it was still running bad I looked and looked and figured might as well check spark plugs even though I replaced them about a month ago and they were all corroded (in the second picture) and I did some research and I’m sure all or you see that and immediately know why it’s like that but i found to be caused by very advanced timing so I checked with a light and it’s about as far advanced as one could make it go so I’m gonna turn the distributor back and put new plugs in and hopefully I won’t have this problem any more

 

[Josh B]

Seems you're on the right track sir